In a message dated 09/09/00 6:53:53 PM Central Daylight Time, shawa@fastlink.com.au writes: << In the Inverness court records for 1790 Donald Kennedy was also shown with an alias of "Donald in Rioch". i imagine this was phonetically translated by the English clerk of the court at the time and was obviously an attempt to record the Gaellic name of Donald. I would doubt that anyone in Inverness at that time in history was not fluent in the Gaelic and an educated man like a clark would also have the Soct's English . A rioch in this context would likely be either a scar from a wound. he could have a birth mark or a scar thus Donald in Rioch, donald with the scar, "IN " is simply a prefix in the Gaelic. Eion or Iain or Ian, (John), would never be shortened to ie, is pronounced, depending on the dialect s Eee yow nie sort of. I am quite dyslexic so trying to write in phonetics is not my strong suite I am sorry. The Donald although spellt in the English would of been pronounced Dhon auld, even today if one had a strong Unvarneeziun accent mun. Hope this helps. I would say the record, or name at least is written in Gaelic and not English. Even as a youngster Inverness was not a stranger to the Gaelic on market day, and there was a considerable community of Gaels at the bottom of Stephen's Brae, (and more down near O'Connel st. I think it is, down near the baths, or where the baths used to be. DaveM. Alistair Macleod kindly suggested to me some years ago that this probably translates as "Domhnall Iain Riabhaich" (Donald, son of tawnyhaired or brindlehaired John). My question is : could the "in" possibly be Ewen or Evan ? a Gaellic grammar book I have states "Eoin" can be spoken as "En", is this correct or am I way off track ? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated as I have unsuccessfully searched for Donald's background for some 13 years. Cheers from Downunder, Alan Shaw >>